George Viau

{{expand French|topic=bio|Georges Viau|date=August 2018}}

{{Infobox person

| name = George Viau

| image = Édouard vuillard, il dottor georges viau nel suo gabinetto dentistico (george viau che cura annette roussel), 1914, 01.JPG

| alt = Oil painting of a dentist in a white coat with a beard, in his office, examining a female patient. Two framed paintings are on the wall behind him.

| caption = Édouard Vuillard, Le Docteur Georges Viau dans son cabinet dentaire (1914, "Doctor Georges Viau in his dental office")

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1855|3|28}}

| birth_place = Nancy, France

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1939|12|18|1855|3|28}}

| death_place = Paris

| nationality = French

| other_names =

| occupation = Dentist

| years_active =

| known_for = Art collecting

| notable_works =

}}

George Viau (28 March 1855 – 18 December 1939) was a French dentist and art collector. His collection, which was built up and sold off more than once, included work by many impressionist painters and the artists who influenced them. Viau's dental practice was at number 47 Boulevard Haussmann, where one of his patients was Claude Monet.{{cite book |last=Roquebert |first=Anne |editor-last=Rabinow |editor-first=Rebecca A. |title=Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-garde |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B6JTCCBSZuoC&pg=PA222 |year=2006 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-1-58839-195-7 |page=222 |chapter=A Widening Circle: Vollard and His Clients}}{{cite book |last=Baron |first=Wendy |title=Sickert: Paintings and Drawings |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4S5K_DSH4hgC&pg=PA260 |year=2006 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0-300-11129-0 |page=260}}

The collection sold in 1907 included works by, among others, Boudin, Carrière, Cassatt, Cézanne, Dagnan-Bouveret, Daumier, Degas, Delacroix, Gauguin, Guillaumin, Jongkind, Lebourg, Lépine, Manet, Monet, Morisot, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, and Vignon.{{cite news |last1=Valemont |title=La Collection George Viau |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2876474/ |work=Le Figaro |date=1 March 1907 |page=1}}{{cite news |title=Echos |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k7625878p/f1.item.texteImage.zoom |access-date=11 August 2018 |work=Le Journal |date=2 March 1907 |page=1}}

A collection of more than 200 paintings owned by Viau went to Wilhelm Hansen, whose collection formed the basis of the Ordrupgaard museum.{{cite news |last1=Glueck |first1=Grace |title=The Treasures of a Private Collector, From Copenhagen |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/21/arts/the-treasures-of-a-private-collector-from-copenhagen.html |access-date=11 August 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=21 June 2002}} After Viau's death, the Hôtel Drouot auctioned paintings from his estate. One Cézanne in that collection sold for over 5 million francs, and the auction brought in 53 million francs in all.{{cite book |last=Campbell Karlsgodt |first=Elizabeth |title=Defending National Treasures: French Art and Heritage Under Vichy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yeQFzSowSg8C&pg=PA228 |year=2011 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-7018-7 |page=228}}

A portrait of Viau painted by Édouard Vuillard in 1914 is held at the Musée d'Orsay.{{cite web |title=Edouard Vuillard: Le docteur Georges Viau dans son cabinet dentaire |url=http://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/collections/catalogue-des-oeuvres/notice.html?no_cache=1&nnumid=021258&cHash=1cda67ad83 |website=Musée d'Orsay |access-date=11 August 2018}}